03-09-2012, 05:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-13-2012, 10:54 AM by Director Michael.)
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question, but I still have some doubts and thoughts to share.
I, as an individual in society, cannot under the Noahide laws, nor under penal law, nor morally speaking, go to my neighbor's house and through the use of force and intimidation take away his money in order to give to charity. Even though I might have the noblest of the intentions on how the money will be spent, I simply cannot use force and coercion. I might try to persuade him to give his money voluntarily, but if I point a gun on his head and demand money, I just crossed the line between charity and theft. Right? The same applies to groups, because in reality groups are nothing more than many individuals, one group cannot use force and intimidation to raise money for charity against a single individual, because that constitutes theft. Right?
So if I, as an individual and a Noahide under G-d's Law cannot use force against my neighbor to extract from him money, even though I might give it to charity, how can I delegate to another individual (my representative in government) to do the same for me? In other words, how can I without fault delegate a sinful act? Isn't that falling into the category of theft as well?
The law says I cannot use force and intimidation to extract money from my neighbor, but at the same time the government can use force and intimidation to extract money from my neighbor.
I just want to know if under the Noahide laws there is a limit on the government or something that indicate to us what characterizes as theft, or as some might say "legally theft." Or as a Noahide I should not try to use government power and influence to increase "legal theft" in society.
I, as an individual in society, cannot under the Noahide laws, nor under penal law, nor morally speaking, go to my neighbor's house and through the use of force and intimidation take away his money in order to give to charity. Even though I might have the noblest of the intentions on how the money will be spent, I simply cannot use force and coercion. I might try to persuade him to give his money voluntarily, but if I point a gun on his head and demand money, I just crossed the line between charity and theft. Right? The same applies to groups, because in reality groups are nothing more than many individuals, one group cannot use force and intimidation to raise money for charity against a single individual, because that constitutes theft. Right?
So if I, as an individual and a Noahide under G-d's Law cannot use force against my neighbor to extract from him money, even though I might give it to charity, how can I delegate to another individual (my representative in government) to do the same for me? In other words, how can I without fault delegate a sinful act? Isn't that falling into the category of theft as well?
The law says I cannot use force and intimidation to extract money from my neighbor, but at the same time the government can use force and intimidation to extract money from my neighbor.
I just want to know if under the Noahide laws there is a limit on the government or something that indicate to us what characterizes as theft, or as some might say "legally theft." Or as a Noahide I should not try to use government power and influence to increase "legal theft" in society.